Hello and welcome to the latest info about SabreTools! We are happy that you chose to use our software for your DAT management needs. But what exactly is SabreTools? How did it get started? Why is it named so weirdly? Why should we care? Well, the first two can be answered, though the last one is up to you.

SabreTools has its roots in an internal tool developed by RomShepherd member The Wizard of DATz (WoD). The aim of the PHP-based program was to collate data from multiple sources and create new DAT files for custom sources as well as DAT files that have duplicate data removed, called merged DATs. WoD maintained this software and used it to create near-monthly releases for quite a while.

Around the middle-end of 2016, WoD announced that they would be taking a break from the process of creating and releasing new files. A couple of months went by with no information. Finally, WoD finally told the community that they would no longer be able to maintain either the project or the software involved, releasing the source code of the internal project in the process. During that time, RomShepherd member darksabre76 picked it up to see how the program worked.

After updating the code to the newest version of PHP and trying to figure out what each page did, he announced that it was going to be easier to do a complete rewrite while maintaining functionality. He was given a lot of support and got started with the aim to keep the code completely open source so that anyone can help. It took a lot of work and help from fellow user emuLOAD, but the code finally started to shape up in the form of WoD Redux.

DAT import and export was working on a basic level after a couple of weeks. Numerous other features and pages were added over the next month, progressing toward more a more mature codebase. DAT parsing ended up being the main barrier during that time, leading to many frustrations. RomVault was used as the basis for DAT parsing quality, leading to a mock rivalry and darksabre76 dubbing it "project nemesis" of WoD Redux. These have long since been cleared up but the rivalry still stands. This original project can be found at https://github.com/SabreTools/wizzardRedux.

Around the end of March 2016, a relatively new user to the site, now known as @tractivo, sent darksabre76 a message and asked if a desktop port of some of the core features was possible. It was difficult for most people to run the PHP code locally, so it made sense to port some core features. With the aim for people to use the web version primarily, a sister project called wizzardDesktop, was born. A few days later, with rigorous testing by @tractivo, version 0.0.0.1a was put out as the first official release. Pretty soon, this got even more support than the web version and soon became the main focus. For a while, code parity between the two versions was attempted. It became quickly apparent that the desktop version was going to be the better option due to the higher accessiblity and willingness to be tested. This project is currently hosted at https://github.com/SabreTools/SabreTools.

Development accelerated, soon leaving the PHP version in the dust. Once the basics were implemented, more features were requested, including better merging and DAT management. Spurred on by an increasing number of community members, DATabase accrued a lot of features and helper programs. The accuracy of the program also increased, soon matching or surpassing existing options in functionality. At some point during this development, some of the smaller tools got wrapped into DATabase, slowly getting further from just a desktop port.

With these changes, some external prodding, and a little bit of ego, darksabre76 decided to rechristen the set of programs to SabreTools. This freed the program from being just about DAT management and allowed it to be more of a Swiss Army Knife of DAT tools. Development has been on and off since then, and is still constantly evolving to the day of this writing. In the mean time, most of the DAT management features were stripped from the original web application due to the inability to keep them updated to any large degree.

There is still a lot of work to do with both the web and desktop applications. The web application has to go though some refocusing as well as improve and add the online checking functionality. The desktop application will continue developing new features that will be used by numerous collectors and projects.

Both the web and desktop projects are always looking for programmers of any skill level to contribute. If you want to contribute but don't want to (or know how to) program, suggestions are always welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read about the project and I hope you enjoy!